Cause and Effect
by Eotyrannus
Summary: The Temple Ship threatened to eradicate either XCOM's finest or the entire human race. Instead, it took itself into a whole new universe, where the races of the galaxy used the incredible Element Zero to cross the stars. No one has any idea what's coming...
1. Chapter 1

A mighty wave of psionic energy washed over the battlefield, and the first sectopod strained under the forces of it. Unable to resist the flow of raw mental power, the already-weakened armour bent and tore, before the walking tank was torn apart by the forces applied to it. "One down, two to go!" Rhino shouted, her voice carrying loud and clear over the comm link.

"You're doing alright, rookie!" Prophet shouted. "Taking down a Sectopod is hard work!"

"Dammit, woman, stop talking and keep shooting!" Double-Down shouted back. "And I'm not a rookie!"

"You'll always be a rookie to me, Casey! Never forget that!" The massive laser beam of the other sectopod quickly diverted her attention. As it stopped, she and the rest of the squad quickly poked their heads above cover and unleashed bolt after bolt of plasma upon the thing. One of its beams fire low over Emo's head, but two more bolts from his plasma sniper pierced its hull and burned out its internal systems. There were a few moments of silence, before the voice of the Uber Ethereal emanated from somewhere in the air.

"The New One continues to surge…" it muttered. "To prove that this was the worthy path, that we were justified in our efforts…" It paused as if to speak again, but it was swiftly interrupted.

"What do you _want,_ you bastards!?" Rhino shouted. "You keep speaking as if you're right, but if you're so worried about our development, why don't you just help us without starting a fucking war!?"

A few more seconds of silence… And then an answer. "The lesser species cannot be trusted to ensure their survival," it replied. "Left to your own devices, you shall war amongst yourselves and die, just as we have seen so many times before… And we shall control your primitive urges, and you shall rise to conquer that which is rightfully yours."

The door opened, and the Uber Ethereal stood, waiting for the New Ones to arrive. Instead, a small device appeared in his chamber. His Muton guards looked at it, curious.

"That's a battle scanner. Gives Emo here a clear shot."

A bolt of plasma came screaming into the Uber Ethereal, catching it off guard and sending searing-hot plasma spewing across its body. It roared in anger, and the other aliens prepared themselves to let the humans feel the force of their leader's fury. A second bolt slammed into it, setting it aflame.

"This is not your _path!_" it shouted. "Not your _purpose!_ You need our guidance to hone this power…" Another bolt hit it, and it screamed, dying. "Without us, _WHAT ARE YOU!?"_

It let out a surge of psionic energy, tearing through ship and Muton alike. The humans braced themselves.

All that happened was that shards of the ship bounced off of their Titan armour. Slowly, ever so slowly, the Uber Ethereal and its minions slumped to the floor. The plasma rounds had burned through the creature's nervous system, destroying the core of the Ethereal Hive Mind and instantly stopping the attack. There was silence, before someone acted.

"Okay, guys, we have to get this ship into orbit!" Rhino shouted. "It'd be catastrophic if something this big hit Earth!"

The squad all saw the sense in that, and rushed pashed the corpses of the Ethereals to what had to be the ship's control. The psions amongst them glowed with purple energy, and activated it.

And saw what was to happen if nothing was done.

They searched the psionic sphere for anything that could stop it, even as they began to bring the ship forwards and upwards. Shards of alien alloy began to move along the floor, to what would soon be the centre of a black hole. It continued to pull, and would soon be a force that could destroy everything humanity had called home.

And then they figured it out.

The pull ceased.

And then everything exploded in a sphere of white light, and Earth looked on in terror as it was consumed.

* * *

"Strike team! Strike team, do you read me!? I repeat, _do you read me!?_"

Slowly, Chen "Emo" Cheng came to. "I repeat, do you read me!?"

"Loud and clear, Commander. Although maybe you could quiet down a bit…"

"Good. Glad someone's still alive up there. How's the others doing, Chen?"

He pushed himself to his feet. "The others are still alive. Looks like they're out cold, though. I presume Igor is still dealing with Casey. He took a nasty shot from that Cyberdisk." The nervousness of the Commander faded away, and Chen smiled. "So, how's everything going down on Earth?"

The Commander laughed. "The civilian population has started celebrating already. I'd say it's a little early for that, but it's good to see some hope going 'round for once these days. They don't know what you did, but it worked. Floaters, Mutons, Thin Men, Sectoids… Whatever you did made their advance grind to a halt. There's only those damned Chryssalids that haven't stopped coming from the quarantine zones… Come to think of it, what did you do?"

"May have rearranged reality, Commander… And make sure there's alcohol when I get back. I need a freakin' drink."

"…You did _what?_"

"Rearranged reality, Commander," Rhino said sleepily. "The ship was supposed to just implode in an alternate dimension, but we decided that killing the whole team wasn't the best option, so we just used all of the energy to pull a switcheroo… May have got Alpha Centauri as well…"

The Commander sighed heavily. "Well, at least we got results. Get the others on their feet. You're coming home to a heroes' welcome."

* * *

July 18th, 2016

After an hour of shuffling, just-finishing and navigating the labyrinthine XCOM base, the majority of staff had gathered themselves in the meeting room. All of them had a vague idea of what had been going on for the past 24 hours, but none of them knew the full story.

The Commander chuckled. Well, now they would. He walked onto the speaker's stage, and readied himself to speak.

"As I'm sure you all know," he began, "we launched the assault on the Temple Ship at 11:00 AM yesterday, successfully killing the leader of the Ethereals and stopping the invasion in its tracks. This, unfortunately, had a fundamental effect on reality. The death of the Ethereal Hivemind sent the Temple Ship's gravitational drive haywire. Originally, this would have created a singularity that would have destroyed much of the solar system, a fate that obviously could not be allowed to happen. The second option was to warp the singularity into a different dimension, which would have killed Strike-1 and allowed the debris from the temple ship to rain down on the earth, which would also have a massive negative effect on humanity, although not nearly as bad as total destruction." He paused for effect.

"Strike-1 found a loophole in these events. Instead of the above options, they discovered that they could exchange the entirety of the local area between the two dimensions and use up all energy contained within the ship's drive core. We probably won't know the full effects of this until Alpha Centauri's light reaches us, at the very least, and we'll see if it's been affected. If it was caught in the wave as well, it will take more years until we see an unaffected star. However, this is not our priority right now.

"Earth still needs us," he stated. "The aliens are leaderless, but they are still here. And, unless we do something, they will continue to be here. So this is what we will do.

"We will find them. We will search the cities. We will comb the countryside, we will dive to the deepest depths of the sea and climb the highest mountains. We _will_find them," he told his people, "wherever they might hide! And no force on earth shall stop us!

"This is our home!" the Commander declared. "We will make them rue the day they came to earth! And _they shall not harm Earth again!"_

The Commander smiled as thunderous applause flooded XCOM Base. Everyone here knew they deserved to have hope.

* * *

June 20th, 2016

The Thin Men watched desperately as the last of the Mutons fell in the room beyond. The landed UFO was under siege, and the final line of defence had fallen. They had managed to trick the Mutons and Sectoids into acting as meat shields, but the foe was insurmountable. An atmosphere of fear and dread held the room. None of them had a hope of survival, and they were simply waiting to die. One of the Thin Men, though, decided to take its life into its own hands. It closed its eyes, stood up and armed its weapon.

A room full of glowing, soulless eyes looked back at it. The chitinous purple creatures looked at their former ally with an unnatural hunger.

They charged, and the alien grenade exploded.

* * *

June 22nd, 2016

May stepped out of the Skyranger first, alloy cannon in hand. They had been called in to one of the Brazilian watchposts after it had gone silent., and had set down on the landing pad."So, Rhino," she said. "What do you think we're shooting today?"

Jess sighed in response. "Do you think about _anything_ other than shooting things? We're looking for survivors, and you're the medic, so-"

There was a sound.

She lifted her hand up, and the team stopped. "You hear that?" she muttered.

The team knew what to do. Cheng moved first, using one of the barriers on the edge of the pad to take cover behind. His genetically-modified skin changed colour in moments, mimicking the colours perfectly. Camouflaged perfectly, he looked over the barrier...

And saw a veritable horde of Chryssalids that had come to investigate their arrival.

"Get over here, guys. And get ready to shoot some bugs."

This was the start of the Chryssalid War. It would be more than 2 billion lives later that it ended.

* * *

XCOM- Chryssalid War

The Chryssalid War was the bloodiest conflict in human history, and directly followed on from the Ethereal War. It is unknown quite how many died, but it is believed that over 30% of the total human population was killed by Chryssalids and various aftereffects of the conflict. Some believe that the figure was much higher.

After the war with the Ethereals, three countries (Brazil, France and China) had pulled out of the XCOM project and suffered for it. It is hypothesised that the Ethereals, seeing as the countries had ceased to support the greatest asset to human survival and advancements, decided they had no further use for the governments of those countries and took over. The human population was left largely untouched, despite this, but the countries were used to build up land armies and experiment on humans. When the Ethereal Hive Mind was destroyed, a civil war between the remaining aliens ensued. Only one alien would make it out alive.

The Chryssalid was tightly controlled by the Ethereals during the war. These creatures were believed to be the alien's terror unit. UFOs tracked them at all times and reabducted them once the aliens no longer needed them on the ground. Once the Ethereals were killed, though, control was lost and they feasted upon the unarmed civilians left. This was where the majority of casualties took place, sparking off the first and bloodiest part of the war. Before the war, these countries had 1.75 billion people. Afterwards, they were virtually empty. There could have been 1.75 billion chryssalids, but chryssalids also attacked livestock and wild animals, which meant that final numbers were much higher. As the populations of large animals were already devastated, the nuclear option was taken.

Worldwide, over 400 nuclear bombs were dropped. Each one had an incredibly-loud siren attached, to try and bring all Chryssalids within the area as close to the bomb as possible. Once there was an appropriate density of Chryssalids near each bomb, they exploded in synchrony, instantly killing enormous amounts of Chryssalids and preventing the world's ecosystems from being overrun. It is thought that this action saved the world's biosphere despite the amounts of radiation released into the environment.

The Council of Nations and XCOM both agreed that mechanisation of the armed forces would be critical to their success, as Chryssalids would not be able to bolster their numbers if a mechanical squad was lost. MECs and SHIVs were initially used, and during this conflict, humanity devised one of its most effective combat vehicles. DOOMSHIVs (Defensive Or Offensive Massive Super-Heavy Infantry Vehicles), based on alien sectopod and cyberdisk designs, were developed. These autonomous hover-tanks are armed to the teeth, and during the conflict, they usually used a combination of particle cannons, a blaster launcher and flamethrowers. The first DOOMSHIVs were similar to the Hover SHIV, although their larger size made them slower and reduced their air-time to that of Archangel armour.

The development of the DOOMSHIV was the turning point of the war. Chryssalids could dig underground and enter a state of torpor, in which they could survive for up to a month without food, leaving only the glowing tips of their exoskeleton to act as electroreceptors. A DOOMSHIV's sensory arrays could detect the presence of underground Chryssalids, and using its blaster launcher, it could kill them before they dug themselves out. The ability of a DOOMSHIV to scour large areas for Chryssalid activity allowed them to methodically wipe out Chryssalid presence near the borders, forcing them into the irradiated centres of the ex-countries and starving them to death.

Officially, the war ended after 6 years. No Chryssalid presence was detected after the 18th of December, 2018, which is commonly cited as the end of the Chryssalid War. The countries were left as uninhabited memorials to the lives that were lost, although the radiation was a large factor in this decision. After the end of this war, the nations of Earth were finally able to rebuild.

* * *

January 19th, 2020

Dr. Vahlen scanned through the results one more time, and decided she was satisfied. "Let me see..." she said to herself, and picked up the note, reading the numbers to herself as she dialed them in. She put it to her ear, and waited a few seconds before it was answered.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Mrs. Cheng."

"Ah, Dr. Vahlen! Please, just call me Jess. Makes me feel like a teacher when people call me that. So, the results came back? Presume they're good, from your tone of voice."

"Yes, they have, and yes, they are. Our scans indicate that the organs are growing healthily. No tumors or other problems detected."

"That's _wonderful!_Thanks, Vahlen. I don't know what I'd do without you and your team."

"I presume you'd be in interstellar space somewhere, probably with far more alien implants than healthy... Oh! Maybe with a gun directly attached to your nervous system. That sounds about right."

"So you're still the most humble woman alive? That's good, then."

Vahlen laughed. "Of course! Anyway, by cloning skin, heart, muscle and bone marrow tissues in the lab, we can confirm that the genetic modifications are hereditary. Your own modifications are the most prominent, but your husband's modifications have also been inherited. Make sure you tell me how easy it is raising a child who can turn invisible at will, okay?"

"I'll make sure to pass any stories on, Vahlen. Thanks again!"

"No problem. Good luck with the baby!" With that, the top scientist of XCOM hung up.

* * *

2021-2074: The Golden Age

During 2021, one of the most important discoveries in the history of mankind was made- the knowledge of how to manufacture elerium in useful amounts. Tiny amounts had already been made by atomic research labs, but over certain temperatures, the elerium could crystallise liquids into more elerium when exposed to psionics. This discovery changed mankind forever, as elerium had previously been a rare resource that had to be conserved. Now, though, elerium generators could be made worldwide, and they had elerium to spare for the first true starships.

Soon after, the secret to alien alloy (officially known as xenaesium) was discovered, thanks to the much larger availability of elerium. When Meld and jellied elerium were added in tiny quantities to an aluminium-titanium alloy (analysis of alien alloy had already revealed that those were the metals used), the Meld created microscopic structures within the metal, creating a metal nearly as light as aluminium but far stronger than any other metal. As Meld was already a material that could be duplicated, due to the semi-biological nature of it, this allowed a vast increase in alien alloy use as well.

As the development of FTL pulse drives continued, the presence of psionics in the population had a previously-unknown effect. Exposure to psionic individuals slowly but surely built up similar capabilities in other psionic-capable individuals. In those raised from birth by psionics, as parents David "Double-Down"/Patricia Shepard and Jessica "Rhino"/Chen "Emo" Cheng discovered, a mastery of psionics was developed that allowed finely-tuned telekinetic and empathic abilities. The population managed to adapt to this without the development of widespread discrimination because of the high opinion of pre-existing psions (who were mainly restricted to Strike-1, XCOM's primary spec-ops team).

Elerium tech was honed by humanity as it developed. Within 5 years, plans for a machine were built: the Elerium Sling. Experimentation on grav-drives had revealed a second type, one that could create a spacetime bubble and fire the object within at a massive speed. This was useless for ship engines, but it would massively decrease travel time to (and hopefully from) distant stars. The remains of the Temple Ship (which was largely intact, even after years of being stripped for its alloys during the Chryssalid War) were used as the base for the Elerium Sling. 15 years of work culminated in a massive machine, roughly teardrop-shaped, which was able to travel within 5 light years when first operational and up to 30 light years away when it was deemed suitably-large in 2059.

However, the aftereffects of 2016 were just becoming visible to the galaxy at large by the 2070s, and in 2074, Second Contact was made.


	2. Chapter 2

2071 CE

For Theraetrus Meril, it was a fairly routine patrol. It wasn't anywhere interesting. (In fact, he suspected that his superiors had done their best to get him _away_ from anything of importance.) He was in charge of a vessel, but it was in the middle of nowhere, right on the edge of Council Space. Not even pirates came to this part of space, simply because there was absolutely nothing of value anywhere nearby.

Just how he liked it.

Unfortunately, he had never heard of Murphy's Law, considering it was a human creation. He'd heard of the turian equivalent, however, and it immediately came into mind in the next few seconds.

"Sir!" a voice said from the comm system. "We've got a problem!"

"What is it?" he replied instantly. When there was a problem in _this_ part of space, it was inevitably going to be something of incredible importance.

"Some of the stars... They just _detonated!"_

* * *

"...and Captain Meril, fortunately, captured video evidence of the event." A hologram came up in the council chamber.

Councillors Tevos and Anoadril watched, one shocked, the other with a grim interest as the event played out before them. At first, it was just a patch of stars. Then, however, one of the stars began to glow. The glow intensified, and the star actually began to _grow_. It grew until it began to consume the nearest star. Just one at first, but then another, and another, until a massive sphere had consumed a large part of the heavens. As it grew, it became dimmer, and dimmer, until it faded into nothing.

And nothing had changed.

There was silence for a few moments. And then the Salarian councillor spoke up.

"Hmm. Interesting," he said. "Never seen anything like this. Will have to be studied."

"Indeed," Tevos replied. "What worries me is what could have _caused_ this in the first place."

"Exactly my concern," Councillor Akia agreed. "Nothing in the known galaxy could have caused such a thing, even without leaving the stars intact. It could be Prothean in nature."

"If I may make a suggestion, there is a relay that may enter that area," Anoadril chimed in. "Relay 314. An STG team could go in and search for any clues on what happened. We have seen the star at the centre of the incident, correct? We could go in and look for it there."

"That would be the best course of action," said Tevos. "Do we hereby agree to the activation of Relay 314 to investigate the origin of this event?"

"Agreed."

"Yes."

"Then we should get started. First thing we'll need to do is check the origin star, and any others, for changes. After that, we open the relay."

Of course, due to the need to prepare, and the red tape to cut through, the mission would only be launched in 2074 CE. When it happened, though, the Council was caught completely off-guard.

* * *

2074 CE

The familiar crackle of the Mass Relay's tendrils of energy entered Belen Linasurn's ears. A low humming noise in the background rapidly intensified, becoming a ship-shaking roar. The pilot counted down. "Three, two, one-"

The Relay flashed brightly, and then it was gone, replaced for just a moment by the starlight that had been redshifted into blackness in the mass-free corridor. Then it was gone, and it revealed the edge of the star system that they had been sent to investigate.

"No Relay here, sir," the pilot informed him. "Some sort of energy reading further into the system, though. Between third and fourth planet from the star."

"Good," Linasurn replied. "Any gas giants for static discharge?"

"Yes, sir."

"Hmm. Move to the closest one to terrestrial planets, and investigate the energy signature."

The pilot nodded, and activated the FTL drive. Heat sinks were in use, to prevent local races from noticing, so it would take a few minutes to get to it. Two other ships were ready to enter the system once his ship had confirmed the absence of hostile entities.

* * *

September 2nd 2074, XCOM HQ

"Hey, Cheng. You heard the news?"

Shannon Cheng put down her can of coke for a second. "Hmm?"

David Shepard sat down beside her. "They picked up a signal on the hyperwave relay. They say it's hovering around a gas giant near Shanxi right now, and that they might have to send in an infiltrator. I think you can guess the subtext."

Shannon laughed at that. "Yeah, guess I better thank Grandpa Chen for passing down invisibility genes to me," she chuckled. "Whatever's going on, I bet he's seen it on the news, and I bet he's telling his neighbours, 'That's gonna be my girl on that suicide mission! Only woman who could get out alive!'"

"Sounds about right," David admitted. "Guess that's one more thing I can thank my grandfather for- Not making me the first choice for potential hostile contact."

"And the ability to pick up a car with your mind."

"Yup."

"And saving the world."

"Yup."

"And-"

"I think we get it. Anyway, if you find any sign of blue space babes, tell me and I'll buy you a drink. Changing your skin colour in space doesn't count, before you try." They grinned at each other.

* * *

Captain Linasurn stood patiently in the cockpit, looking out of the window. To the left of the ship, the red and orange storms of the gas giant whirled around on the ever-changing surface. He paid little heed to it. He was here so he could send a message to the ships at Relay 314 immediately after the scout returned.

A beeping sound alerted the Salarian captain to an incoming message on his omnitool. The glowing orange interface sprang to life as he lifted it up. "Captain speaking."

"Lieutenant Joron, scouting report. Undamaged." Linasurn smiled slightly. He'd half-expected the scout to come back in pieces. "Radar detected an incoming ship. No identifiable source of propulsion. Energy reading revealed to be massive structure, maybe dreadnought-sized. Not a ship. Alien ship approached it after apparently noticing my own ship."

He raised an eyebrow at this. "No propulsion? Unknown structure?" He paused. "Are you _sure_ about this?"

"Positive. Could scarcely believe the readings myself, Captain."

"...Affirmative, Lieutenant. Sending message now."

He leaned over the controls, the various screens and buttons flaring into existence as he singled out the commands he needed.

"This is Captain Linasurn. Our scout has confirmed the existence of an unknown sapient race..."

* * *

"Orders confirmed, Captain." With that message recieved, Commander Brent turned to her pilot. "Asenov, take us into slingshot. We need to get as close to the alien bastards as possible if we want to get the drop on them."

"Going now, Commander. Let's give these x-rays a lesson they'll never forget."

Simultaneously, they said the same words. "Mess with Earth... and you mess with XCOM." It was something that every XCOM soldier knew well. With that, the ship entered the approach to the Sling.

The starlight began to distort as they neared the dark green metal. The Elerium core of the titanic machine began to glow, releasing arcs of energy across its surface, sparking and flickering like the heart of a storm. It turned, reorienting itself to face their destination: Jupiter. Space began to fold in on itself, the force of technology exerting itself on reality to work its wonders.

Mighty arks of energy streamed along its surface. Gravitational forces pulled them towards the hemispherical tip of the device, starlight curving into eldritch shapes and patterns.

Space coiled in on itself, and the Elerium Sling fired.

At such a short range, they were at the Sling one moment and mere kilometres away from the alien ship at the next. "Slingshot successful," Asenov said. "Preparing for hostile contact." He fired up the pulse drive, and entered firing position.

"...ppears to be the third planet from the sun, which we have tentatively named-"

"Captain! The alien ship has appeared!" the pilot interrupted. "Turning to face them."

Linasurn looked up sharply. "Is it hostile!?" He looked at the sensors. The ship appeared to be smaller than them-

"...Nothing's happening. It's just sitting there."

* * *

"Charge weapons, prepare to fire on the Ethereal-"

"Alien craft is not Ethereal," Asanov reported. "And it's not firing."

The two ships hung there in space, as if in a staring contest.

Commander Brent tapped her foot impatiently. "What are they, then?" she muttered. "They have to be some sort of scout ship..."

"Receiving a signal..." Asanov said. "Short bursts of data. Two bursts. Three. Five... Seven... Eleven..."

He waited a moment. "It's repeating."

Brent stood still. "Well... This was unexpected..." They stayed silent for a few more seconds. "...Respond next time. Thirteen, seventeen, nineteen, twenty-three."

* * *

For the past ten minutes or so, Captain Linasurn had been tediously looking up various maths to provide the correct response to the aliens. During that time, the aliens had closed to visual range, and could be seen from the window.

The ship was an odd one. Unlike the long, thin, boat-like ships that most races used, these ones were ovoid in shape. They were clad in a dark green metal, although it could be paint or the metal itself. On its side, they had recognised an insignia: A blue, vertically-stretched pentagon with a cross and three stars over a globe-shape pictured within. It seemed to be well-armed, too- they had managed to make out at least four guns on the thing, possibly six.

Linasurn didn't particularly want to think about why they sent such a well-armed ship to First Contact.

"Sir, another alien ship has just appeared," the pilot noted. "It's entering visual range, closer than the other ship."

Just as said, the Captain saw another ship enter his field of vision. Like the other one, it was coated in a dark green metal. It was far more like a normal craft than the frigate previously sent, though, long and thin with two wings on either side. The second craft seemed to be a civilian vessel of some sort.

"First three square numbers," Linasurn ordered.

After a few seconds, the craft replied with 16 and 25. Unlike the last one, though, this one was clearly prepared for first contact.

A red hologram slowly appeared on the ship's nose, a single screen. It moved up the spectrum, through yellow and green up to indigo and violet, before fading out. "Sensors indicate infrared and ultraviolet in use when the hologram is invisible," the pilot added.

After the colours repeated two more times, a signal came through, matched by that on the screen- the prime numbers, with the written number appearing on the hologram. It repeated, before following through and doing the same with some of the square numbers. Once that was done, the message began in earnest.

Captain Linasurn watched as two shapes appeared on the screen. One was fairly barrel-chested, a plantigrade biped with an odd formation on the top of its skull. The other, however, was much more familiar- for all intents and purposes, it was an asari (albeit with two fleshy ears and the same structure as in the male). Smaller versions appeared next to both of them, seeming to show the life cycle from a grub-like newborn to a fully-grown adult. Atomic models appeared next, seeming to show the nature of their biochemistry (carbon-based) and atmosphere (nitrogenous, average amounts of oxygen). Finally, various images of buildings, culture and native life forms appeared.

After a few minutes of video, the hologram closed down. The larger armed vessel rendezvoused with the smaller diplomatic ship, and together, they travelled back to wherever they came from.

The Captain turned on the comm system, and patched it through to the Council.

* * *

"...So they're two-gendered asari with external ears. And we have no idea how their technology works."

Anoadril nodded, and Akia sighed. "Why couldn't it have been something simple?"

"I, for one, am glad to welcome our new galactic neighbours," Tevos said. "You would do well to maintain a positive outlook. These people could teach us so many new things, both technologically and culturally. This could be as valuable as a whole _trove_ of Prothean artifacts!"

"I see your position, but I do not have to agree with it," the Turian replied simply. "We know that they were prepared for violence, if the numbers of weapons on the first ship mean anything."

"And they still replied peacefully," the Asari councillor retorted. "I believe that we should create an embassy ship as soon as possible."

"Tevos is right," Anoadril agreed. "If they are willing to show us their technology, we could advance more than we have advanced in centuries."

Akia looked at both of them, before finally backing down. "All right," he responded. "So, do we hereby agree to the decision to meet with the unknown species as soon as possible?"

"Agreed."

"Indeed."

"Then it is settled. We begin preparations for the meeting."

* * *

"Mr. Robinson, it's a pleasure to meet you," said Commander Brent as she welcomed him and two others onto the ship. "You've got a fine guard there. Cheng and Shepard are the best of the best."

The diplomat nodded. "Having a pair of XCOM operatives by my side is making me a lot less nervous," he admitted. "No matter what you do, you can never shake the feeling that the x-rays are going to do something that one side will regret. And it's also handy having people who have hands to spare." He motioned to Shepard and the black second-contact case he carried. "How long will it take until we reach the alien diplomatic ship, once we're in the air?"

"According to my pilot, fifteen minutes minimum," she replied. She walked over to the shuttle bay door and put her fingerprint to the door controls, closing the doors on top of the holoseal entrance. "Five minutes for the Sling and ten locating the aliens."

"Me and Cheng will escort him to the docking bay," Shepard said. "You focus on getting the bird in the air, Commander Brent."

She nodded. "I'll see you three after the meeting. Asenov is presumably about to finish pre-flight checks, so we should be taking off soon."

* * *

After a few minutes of determining docking procedures with the holographic displays, the Council diplomats were ready to meet face to face with the new species. The screens of light retracted into the ships. They had determined that the alien ship was more manoeuvrable, and so they would be docking to the Council ship. Currently, the dark green ship was turning side-on so their docking ports would align.

A corridor of light extended from it, followed shortly by one of metal. Attempting to find a way to hold the corridor there was a tedious task for a foreign design, but the claspers managed to grip the end of the corridor before making it airtight using a spray of fast-setting plastic.

For the three diplomats assembled in the room, this was the moment they had been waiting for their entire lives. The Citadel door port unsealed, opening into the alien corridor. The far side did the same, opening with a sound of hydraulic mechanisms. Three figures were revealed. The one in the centre, judging from the unmistakeably-businesslike clothing, was the diplomat. A similar alien stood to his right, a guard, judging from the far more practical clothing and a single small firearm at his side. On his left stood a female guard. The asari diplomat, Shyria, gasped quietly at how alike their races were. She was sure that the female had met her eyes and reacted in a similar way.

The guards shared a glance for a moment, and the male said something to the female. They reverted to a guard-like stance when the diplomat coughed.

They passed down the corridor into the Council ship, and Diplomat Shyria nodded.

"Welcome," she said, and the alien diplomat said something and nodded back.

* * *

For the past month, the Citadel diplomats had slowly been introducing the aliens (humans, they called themselves) to the idea of the galaxy at large. They knew that the Turians were the defence force, the Batarians and Hanar were isolationist, the Volus were economists, the Salarians were scientists and the Asari were politicians. The humans, in turn, had made it clear that they considered themselves survivors.

And, most importantly, they had finally decided to agree to a mind meld.

The door to the vastly-improved docking ports opened up, and Diplomat Robinson stepped out with his guard, Colonels Cheng and Shepard.

"Shyria, Choredi, Mednos," he greeted. "Robinson," Shyria returned, and the Salarian and Turian diplomats nodded in agreement.

"Cheng?" he said, before speaking some more words in his own language. They talked quickly, and it was obvious that Robinson was making sure that the Colonel knew what she was doing. It had been decided by the humans that they would prefer a stronger-minded individual to mind meld first, due to their mistrust of alien mind powers. Cheng had been more willing than Shepard to do so.

Cheng stepped forwards, towards Shyria, and nodded. Shyria nodded likewise. The asari lifted her hands up, and the human said a word of confirmation.

"Calm yourself..." the diplomat said, closing her eyes. "And embrace eternity."

And they mind melded.

The first thing that made itself obvious to Shyria was the structure of the human's mind. It lacked the disorganisation inherent in the minds of most races; rather, it had a certain flow and order to it. It reminded her vaguely of one of the less common races, although she couldn't quite place it.

The human moved in her conciousness like a fish in water. She let Cheng do so, and various pieces of human culture and language met her mind. The Colonel picked through Council language, culture and history with ease, collecting the basis for an opinion on alien culture.

It was history where it went slightly wrong.

When the human came to the main Citadel history, Shyria felt a slight change in emotion in the other mind. She brought her attention to it.

The human had been looking through relations with other races... and she found the Rachni. Shyria tried to draw her attention away from it, but Cheng's mind had been strengthened by psionic experience. One thing led to another, and soon she had found the Krogan, the Quarians and Geth, the Batarians. To say that the human was unhappy with what she found was a gross understatement, and Shyria stopped the mind meld before things went further south.

It had only been a few seconds in real life by this point. Cheng was looking at her, her demeanour quite similar to how she had been before the mind meld. Under the surface, though, Shyria knew that the human was seething.

The asari (although she hid it quite well) was terrified.

Cheng looked back to Diplomat Robinson, and still outwardly calm and polite, she asked for a quick word with him.


	3. Chapter 3

The various Council Nation Representatives looked to the Commander as he stood up. The leather-backed seats radiated outwards from the podium he stood on, and each seat had a member of the Human System Nations upon it. With a quick glance to make sure that everyone was paying attention, the Commander began his speech.

"As I'm sure you all know, we recieved our first full view on Citadel history three days ago, when Colonel Shannon Cheng mind-melded with the asari diplomat Nevos Shyria. Many had previously suspected that the Council was not giving us the full picture. Colonel Cheng has confirmed this.

"In this greater galaxy, we need allies. Humanity is small. Without allies, we simply can't compete with the bigger races. If the Citadel is trustworthy, then it would be the best ally by far, as it has a gargantuan industrial capacity and is probably the most democratic organisation currently within the galaxy. If it is not trustworthy, however, we need to find alternatives, and by investigating four groups, we can prove how trustworthy the Citadel really is.

"According to current knowledge, the Citadel Council has caused the extinction of a species known as the Rachni that lived 2000 years ago. This may seem to be far too long for this to affect current Citadel politics, but according to our knowledge, the Asari have lifespans of up to 1000 years, and there are still veterans of the Rachni Wars from the Krogan race. The Rachni had initiated hostile contact, but the Citadel left no survivors. By investigating the culture of this race, we could see if their decision to make them extinct was the best option.

"This war was ended by the Krogan, a race uplifted by the Salarians, and our first potential ally. Krogan could breed at an alarming rate, turning back the Rachni tide and slaughtering them in their dens. However, the Krogan attempted to build a Krogan Empire, and started the Krogan Rebellions roughly 700 years after the Rachni Wars. The Turians, at that point newcomers, were the main opponent of the Krogan. However, a joint Salarian and Turian effort created a genetic disorder that they spread to the entire species. They call it the Genophage.

"For the past 1300 years," the Commander continued, "the Krogan have been under the influence of the Genophage. It does not lower the Krogan breeding rate in an ethical manner, as would be expected. Instead, it leaves only one in one-thousand newborns alive, the rest dying from birth defects. If we could prevent these stillbirths, then the Krogan would be in our debt. However, they may not be suitable as allies, if Citadel reports are to be believed."

There was a murmur amongst the Council of Nations. The Commander continued.

"These events could potentially be ignored, as there do not seem to be any current threats to galactic peace," he said. "Investigating the Krogan and Rachni simply means that we will have a better idea of how the Citadel responds to threats. However, many other problems are seemingly ignored by the Citadel races, and we may not want to have ourselves as part of them. Firstly, the Quarians. They were evicted from their home planet by a machine rebellion, although we do not have enough evidence to prove that the machines in question- Geth- were not simply preserving themselves, considering the Citadel's ban on artificial intelligences. This was 200 years ago, and the Quarians still do not have a single planet in their name. The Citadel has ignored them. This gives another opening for allies, as if they were to have a world to act as a shipyard (seeing as they seem to reject settling on planets), the Migrant Fleet would be far more self-sufficient.

"The final point is their lack of reaction to the Batarians. Slavery is technically illegal according to Citadel law, but the Batarians have used the excuse of it being a 'cultural heritage' to continue doing so. Slavers, unofficially endorsed by the Batarian government, regularly raid the outer colonies of Citadel space. The Citadel does not like this, but it does not do anything about it, either. If we join the Citadel, we would have problems performing rescue missions in the case of our own people being abducted.

"The Citadel has a massive industrial capacity," he finished, "and would be a massive asset. However, it may be more beneficial to us to form an alternative from these groups, depending on what the Citadel government is actually like. Therefore, I suggest we search for information. Going for the Krogan homeworld, Tuchanka, is out of the question currently. A Turian fleet guards it, presumably to prevent the Genophage being cured by outside parties.

"We are yet to make contact with the Quarians, and are unable to make proper contact with them anyway, due to the lack of a universal translator. Spying on the Batarian Hegemony is also out of the question, as they are a member of the Citadel races. The best option, therefore, is to investigate ex-Rachni space with an archaeological vessel to see if their extinction was necessary. All in favour?"

There was a murmur of uncertainty across the room. However, before long, nearly every hand in the room had raised.

The Commander smiled slightly. _One step closer to answers._

* * *

Tevos was, once again, reading over the reports of recent human relations. She sighed. After the mind meld, the humans had become reclusive and mistrustful. The diplomats had been contacted occasionally, but the closest they'd got to friendliness was the human pilot's increasingly-obscure maths sequences. And even that was over an intercom. _Perhaps Akia was right, _she thought. _Perhaps we should have left them to their own devices._

She lifted her finger to flick to the next page on the datapad. She'd got through the first few sentences when the doorbell sounded.

"Come in," she said. The door opened, and one of her assistants came through, holding another datapad.

"The humans have contacted us again," she said, and Tevos looked up, interested. "They have asked for permission to perform archaeological digs in Rachni space."

"Rachni space?" the Councillor said, surprised. "Why there?"

The assistant put the datapad on the desk. "I haven't had permission to read the full message, but I think they want to know if the Rachni deserved extinction," she suggested. "As long as they're not just doing it to spy on us, I'd let them," she added. "I don't think the Rachni had any redeemable features."

Tevos thought about it. _What she's saying makes sense, _she debated with herself. _They could be doing it for the sake of investigating the Rachni, or they could have an ulterior motive._

"I'll take that into consideration," she decided. "I'll remember the advice."

The assistant nodded, and left the room. The councillor turned off her current datapad, and started reading through the new one, sincerely hoping that the humans were being reasonable.

* * *

XCOM had wasted no time after getting permission from the Citadel. A mobile archaeological lab was quickly created from a modified version of a military ship. Some of the guns had to be taken out, but that had given more space for science equipment anyway.

A team of scientists had traversed the relay system to arrive in this system, something that no human had done before. They were armed with a few green lasers for self-defence, but they hadn't really needed it so far.

The system they were currently in was a fairly average one, by all accounts. It contained an ex-Rachni world, a few gas giants and some rocky planets that, even for Rachni, were uninhabitable. Within the asteroid belt, however, they had found something that no one was expecting.

An intact and semi-functional rachni ship had been found. Initial investigations showed it had probably been an ark ship that had become faulty just before the Rachni wars began. They had parked it on one of the larger asteroids, presumably intending to return to it before they encountered the Citadel.

Deep within, though, they had found something extraordinary. The frozen corpses of Rachni had been preserved in their cryo-chambers, killed in their sleep as power began to run out.

Only one of the cryo-chambers was still functional.

It contained a live egg.

The ship, and the dead Rachni contained within, were given to the Citadel as had been previously agreed. What the Citadel didn't know, however, was that they'd taken a live Rachni egg home with them.

* * *

The Commander stared at the insectoid that the video feed was showing him. It wasn't particularly large- only a metre or so long, at best- but it was a member of a race that had apparently declared unprovoked war upon the Citadel. Its curved back and its two clawed arms were disturbingly reminiscent of a Chryssalid. The shell that covered it was an odd shade of navy, with glowing eyes and bioluminescent patches down its body.

"It seems to be omnivorous, eating both plant and animal matter with no apparent ill effect," the head scientist continued. "It does not react aggressively to humans in its chamber, although we have made sure that they were suitably armoured, in case the Rachni did attack. To prevent it from being mentally damaged by isolation, we recommend psionic contact as soon as possible."

There were a few moments of silence, and then the Commander spoke.

"I take it that you judge your mission to be a success?"

"Certainly, sir."

"The mission went wrong in about as many ways as it possibly could have," the Commander said in a calm voice. "What you have created is, as some would call it, a political shitstorm waiting to happen."

"...What?" the scientist replied, confused.

"Allow me to explain. What you have done is smuggled the Citadel's worst enemy into our systems, which cannot be hidden for long. It also happens to bear a rather unfortunate resemblance to a certain alien that we have encountered previously, except this one can fly spaceships. This Rachni," he stated, "is going to be universally hated as soon as it is discovered, either by the Citadel or by our own people.

"I am not saying that you should have killed it. I would recommend, though, that you make sure you keep things in perspective. Are we clear?"

"...Clear," the scientist replied.

"Now, I am going to have to explain this to the Alliance Nation representatives soon. I am authorizing you to choose one of our psionic soldiers to communicate with the Rachni. Signing out."

The Commander sighed heavily. He couldn't wait for the day when the Systems Alliance made its mind up about the Citadel and took over from XCOM on these matters.

* * *

Diplomat Robinson stepped aboard the Citadel Embassy, something he had not done in over a month. XCOM's observations of the Rachni colony ship had revealed little of interest, so they were returning to a diplomatic approach. To his left was Shepard, as usual. To his right was his selected assistant, Joshua Reynolds, who would be handling the mind-melding (although he was just as good at using his psionic ability offensively).

The diplomats greeted him, and he greeted them in turn. The Salarian diplomat, Diplomat Choredi, asked, "No Cheng?"

"No Cheng," he affirmed. "Elsewhere."

Shyria nodded at Robinson's answer, silently glad that she wouldn't have to see her right now. The human to Robinson's right stepped forwards. "Meld?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied. She was pleasantly surprised when the human went straight to the language centre of her mind, instead of rooting around her knowledge of the Citadel.

* * *

"So... I'm here to talk to a bug."

"Yes, you are," the lead scientist replied. "Look, we need to communicate with it, or it might go insane from isolation."

"Fine," Cheng replied. "So, Dr. Conan, where's the insect?"

"Cohen," he corrected irritatedly, "and right this way."

They walked along the various metal corridors, passing many locked doors with names inscribed above- 'Project Landlord', 'Project Trellis', 'Project Revocate' and many more. Eventually, though, they came to a door they stopped at- 'Project Acumen'. Dr. Cohen opened a console, and entered an optical and biometric scan before stating, "Identifying as Dr. Cohen, bringing Colonel Cheng for project assistance."

"Welcome, Dr. Cohen," an artificial voice stated. "Permission to enter 'Project Acumen' granted."

They walked through the door, and came round a u-turn that was obviously in place to prevent someone looking through the door. A couple of scientists were working at some computers, although the main part of the operation was obviously run by an AI. In the centre of the room sat a large chamber like those used in the Ethereal War. At the centre sat the Rachni. It wasn't that big, maybe two metres long, and had looked up from its meal of some lettuce and c-meat to observe the newcomers to the room.

"There's some Remus armour on the wall over there," Cohen told her. "Put that on, go through the airlock and set up a psionic link. It should be plenty if the Rachni gets violent."

Cheng looked at the Remus armour as she approached it. She much preferred the bulkier Neptune armour to the thinner stuff like this, but there was quite a big difference between a two-metre bug and plasma fire. She sighed, and opened it up to step into it. _Shepard's out there guarding the most important diplomat we have, and what do I get? I get to talk to a giant spider..._

The armour sealed, and the suit's homeostasis features started up. "So, I guess I go talk to the bug now?"

"Yes," Cohen affirmed. "Y'know, I'm kind of hoping it's unwilling to cooperate, so humanity can forget it ever existed."

The colonel walked up to the airlock that linked to the chamber's interior. "Opening outer airlock," the AI stated. Cheng walked through. "Closing outer airlock," it continued. "Opening inner airlock."

The Rachni was looking at her when she entered the room, not even making an attempt to go through the door. "Closing inner airlock," the AI stated. It looked at her with intelligence, not the bland kind that she had seen in the alien diplomats but one with interest and purpose. Cheng was slightly unnerved by it.

"Initiating psionic link," she said, and let bands of purple psionic energy cross towards the bug.

The passive resistance was amazingly strong, with a strength beyond any she had seen before, but it dropped completely when the Rachni queen seemed to realise what was going on. And then it responded.

_It has been long since we last heard the song of another,_it said to her. _Greetings. We are Rachni._

The voice was strange, but soothing. It took Cheng a few moments to gather her wits. _How can it have been long since anyone spoke to you? _she questioned. _It's been days since you hatched and there's not been a single Rachni for thousands of years._

_The song of our ancestors passes on in each new melody,_ it replied. _The silence has been long, and your kind has broken it._

_We were searching for knowledge on how trustworthy the Citadel is,_ Cheng said. _How did the war between your kind and theirs start?_

_We... I do not remember myself, _the Rachni Queen said regretfully. _We only heard songs the colour of oily shadow. Their voices were corrupted. They were not themselves. The silence was unavoidable, as all heard the sour yellow note, so it is neither our song nor our silencers' that are to blame. We ask only that we may compose again in harmony with ourselves._

_As long as your people are cooperative, _Cheng stated. _XCOM only goes for threats. We'll have to keep you secret for now, since I don't think any race in the galaxy is going to approve of your people being here._

_We thank your people for their forgiveness. We hope that our songs may be in harmony._

_Agreed. I'll probably be speaking to you again later. _With that done, Cheng said, "You can let me out now."

The AI let her out of the chamber. Dr. Cohen walked up to her. "So, do you think she's peaceful?"

"I think she is," Cheng replied. "It may take a bit of explaining to tell you why..."

* * *

"Shyria, Choredi, Mednos," Robinson greeted as he had greeted them many times before. "We have made the suggested changes to our own translators. Is this working well enough?"

"Yes," Shyria confirmed. "It seems to be working very well indeed. How are your people faring?"

"There's been many changes in a short time," he replied. "They're often a bit unsettled by aliens, but that's only to be expected." He paused. "There is a certain matter that we may need to discuss."

The turian diplomat raised an eyebrow. "What sort of matter?" he inquired.

"Well... Our research team on the rachni vessel exploited a loophole in the agreements without our prior knowledge," Robinson explained. "They deemed that the artefact in question was far too valuable to our research to be handed to the Citadel, and smuggled it into Alliance space. The Council of Nations is willing to pay reparations for this incident, as long as the reparations in question do not compromise our security."

Mednos inquired further. "I apologise, but could you be more specific?" he asked. "As long as the artefact has not been damaged, returning it to us would most likely satisfy us."

Robinson sighed. "As much as we would like to, it is not that simple. In the agreement, it was agreed that all Rachni technology and remains would be given to the Citadel." He braced himself for the inevitable backlash that his next sentence would receive.

"The research team decided that living material was not covered by this agreement."

Slowly, it began to dawn on the asari and turian diplomats what that statement actually meant. Diplomat Choredi, on the other hand, figured it out in moments.

"You brought home a _living Rachni,"_ he stated, not believing what the human was saying.

"...Correct. The team retrieved an egg from a still-working cryogenic chamber. Communication with the Rachni queen that hatched from it was successful, and we have granted it political asylum under the conditions that it stay within an extreme-security artificial hive. We have agreed that it has permission to lay 50 eggs, to prevent mental instability via a lack of social interaction."

There was a stunned silence. Then Mednos began to stutter incoherently, before he forced the words out of his mouth.

"I... You have a _NEST!?"_he bellowed.

The silence was broken, and the Citadel diplomats unleashed their incredulous anger on Diplomat Robinson.

* * *

Cheng walked through the last part of the airlock of the Rachni queen's new chamber. The new doors were far more secure than what had been used for the original chamber, utilising three separate sections to make absolutely sure that nothing could get in or out without permission. As usual, though, the queen had no interest in escape.

With a flicker of purple energy, Cheng set up the link between her and the Rachni. _They told the Citadel about you earlier today,_ she said. _Daniel __told me it was a good idea for them to send Robinson, since anyone else would have been unable to stop the diplomats going home screaming for war. I don't know about that, but it's probably for the best that they didn't find out for themselves._

_They shall know harmony soon, _the Queen assured her. _We trust in the symphony they have composed. They are frightened, but their symphony shall move all, and their fears shall fade._

_I hope you're right, _Cheng told the Queen. _Anyway, the scientists say you haven't laid any eggs yet. Do you need anything for them?_

_Their melody is yet to be formed,_ she replied. _We must prepare for them still. The foundations are have not been finished, but it shall not be long before the Rachni sing again._ She paused. _Are we yet to join your own song?_

It took a second for Cheng to figure out what she meant. _No citizenship yet,_ she told her. _They're still figuring out the laws on non-human citizenry for the Systems Alliance, but considering you were hatched in Alliance territory, there's a good case for it. Until then, though, you're still officially protected by us anyway. I suggested the official name for you, since it's required on the citizenship form. Will 'Hera Abeja' do?_

The Rachni Queen nodded. _We thank you for your help. May your song be heard forevermore._

Cheng nodded back, and left the Rachni chambers.

* * *

The Batarian Chancellor was just having a glass of ale poured when his omnitool bleeped. He growled in irritation when he saw who it was from- Drogsomon, the Batarian Ambassador on the Citadel. He opened it, and fumed, "I have previously told you that it is for your own good that you do not interrupt me when I am relaxing. If this is not important, your punishment shall not be pleasant. Speak." He picked up his glass to drink it.

"Chancellor, the Citadel Council has officially revealed the presence of a new spacefaring race with non-eezo FTL and Rachni."

A spray of fine batarian ale burst from the Chancellor's mouth and covered the carpet. Four eyes glared at the soon-to-be stain with fury, until his malice was redirected to the Ambassador. It was a few seconds before he replied to what Drogsomon had just said.

"...Explain."

"The asari, turians and salarians have been in contact with a species known as 'humans'," he expanded. "Their technology uses gravitational waves to travel at faster-than-light speeds, but they have refused to expand on it. A recent expedition to Rachni space has been revealed to be a human one, and a live Rachni egg in cryogenic containment was smuggled into their space. The Rachni queen has been given political asylum and permission for a small hive under high security, although it is unknown where it is contained."

The Chancellor mulled over this information, temporarily forgetting his anger about the carpet. "So..." he muttered. "An unknown technological base, not yet shared with the rest of the galaxy... If they have Rachni, they are unlikely to be backed by the Citadel races..." A wolfish grin slowly appeared on his face. "The perfect opportunity for the Hegemony."

"I do not believe that the situation shall be like this for long," the Ambassador said. "They offered reparations for taking the Rachni egg at once. It is likely that they will open their technology to the rest of the galaxy soon."

"Unless their trust in the Citadel is broken _now. _After they isolate themselves, we shall be the only race able to use their technology. Your interruption shall be forgotten, Drogsomon. I feel we... the Batarians... stand on the verge of a new, golden age."


	4. Chapter 4

Asenov leaned back in his chair. The various buttons and holographic screens that surrounded him were always familiar, no matter where he was. It was one of the many good things about standard starship design. Of course, it could get a bit confusing without compensation for the different centres of mass in them all, but Asenov was a superb pilot, he was-

One of the sensors beeped, and he leaned over to get a better look. "That's odd," he muttered, and opened a comm. link to Commander Brent. "Commander, we've got unannounced relay travel. They seem to have overcompensated a bit, they've landed in the inner system. Should we leave it to the frigates back on Shanxi?"

"...I think so, yeah. If they're a threat, they're lucky enough to have a Sling nearby. I think they tested its capabilities on a decommissioned ship, and it crushed it like a tin can. If they piss us off with a Sling nearby, they don't stand a chance."

"If you say so, Commander. I have a feeling I'll be skipping lunch today, since I don't feel comfortable leaving the pilot's seat with whatever came through."

"We should have the Embassy ship here soon anyway. If anything goes wrong, it's their heads."

* * *

"This is the human colony of Shanxi. You do not have permission to be here. Turn around, or we will fire upon your ships. You have 3 more warnings."

Warlord Bekkek laughed at the automated warning that the humans had given them. Four frigate-sized human ships had come up to meet his fleet of ten frigates and a cruiser. He opened communications. "This is Warlord Bekkek of the Citadel. I suggest that _you_ surrender, otherwise _we_ will be forced to fire, and I believe that you don't want that."

A transmission from one of the frigates replied to him. "Denied. Leave now, or-"

A rain of mass effect fire came from the Warlord's ships, and the human frigates scattered. "Pah," he sneered through the comm. system. "What do you have that could _possibly_ threaten us?"

And that was when he was notified that the human megastructure n was powering up. He was unfazed, though- the Citadel had made it clear that it was no more threatening than a mass relay. What the Batarian _did_ know was that it was a transport device, and he was looking forwards to being the first of the incoming pirate fleet to disable a human ship.

Oh, he was going to be _rich _once this was over.

* * *

The Elerium Sling, ever so slowly, turned its massive bulk towards the pirates. The machine was currently receiving the location of its targets, and what it wasn't meant to hit, and its targeting parameters adjusted themselves for the appropriate level of force.

Within the machine, mechanisms began to move, reorganising the series of devices that normally allowed it to fire starships across the vastness of space. It had to be precise- if it wasn't, it could tear away its entire front surface with the sheer force that gravity provided.

Once everything was prepared, the technology within began to work its wonders.

The raw energy of Elerium powered it as it made the first notches in space. Slowly, surely, it condensed the spacetime into a zone of immense gravitational pull, refracting the starlight that met its rounded front. Behind that, an equally-strong opposing force negated it, keeping the alien alloy surface of the device from harm.

Arcs of energy began to surround the device. The Elerium core shone like a miniature star as power poured out of it and into the Sling.

And the Thanatos Wave was released.

The Batarians barely knew what hit them before they died. A few seconds later, more ships began to enter the system.

* * *

Crotin Crof'capos was one of the first pirates from this wave to enter the system. He manned the sensors on a frigate under Gephe Gepark's command, and had been given explicit orders to locate Warlord Bekkek's ship so they could gang together and wipe out any human resistance.

He scanned the local area, looking for signs of the ships. There were a few small frigates already here; those weren't of the type recorded as being under Bekkek's command, though, and so he ignored them. There were some scraps of metal, presumably ships after Bekkek had finished with them. From the readings of eezo, they were probably from human de-

Wait.

Humans didn't use eezo.

He opened a visual scan, and what he saw horrified him. Eleven ships, one obviously an ex-cruiser, had been utterly annihilated. Whatever had happened to Warlord Bekkek, it was unpleasant- the ships' hulls were still in one piece, but the humans had turned them to scrap anyway. They had caved in on themselves, and reminded him slightly of the time he'd seen a Krogan crush someone's skull with their bare hands.

This dawning moment of realisation was also the moment in which a whole damn _fleet _of human warships appeared in the system, and his mind suddenly suggested to him that this was a terrible idea.

"We need to get away!" he screamed into the comm. "I don't care if anyone thinks they can take the humans, _get the fuck out of this system!"_

* * *

At first it was one ship. Then it was another, and another, and soon the pirates were firing all they had at the sudden tide of dark green ships that had appeared from nowhere. There were no flashes of blue, no shattering of mass effect fields- only explosions on armour that refused to give.

In the seconds that the pirates had been firing, the humans had been adjusting their aim. They opened fire, with catastrophic effect. Miniature stars wrecked shields and hulls in moments, and blue laser fire cut through the opposing forces, ignoring the existence of shields entirely. One group disappeared from sight for a moment- FTL- and then they were behind the pirate ships, cutting off those who attempted to flee with a storm of close-range lightning that detonated them from within.

The slaver comm systems were a garbled mess of terror. Ships fell like grain before the scythe. Pirates darted in every direction, and were silenced by the fury of Man.

Only one voice remained strong.

"THIS IS URDNOT JEREX! _GET DOWN TO THOSE CITIES AND MAKE THE BASTARDS PAY! _WE AREN'T GETTING OUT OF HERE WITHOUT HOSTAGES, AND WE AREN'T GOING ANYWHERE WORTHWHILE WITHOUT SOMETHING TO SELL! _**LAND!"**_

* * *

The frigate obliterated a city block and landed down with a heavy thump. Most surviving ships had fled already- the rest had been completely obliterated. Sure, some of the human ships had been destroyed, but they'd taken minimal losses.

Unfortunately for Prator Bopporok, his ship's captain had been one of those who heeded Jerex's call to continue the raid.

A door opened, and the slavers flooded out of the ship. Prator looked up at the sky for a brief moment as he stepped onto the human world. To the north, he could see the fragments of some unfortunate ship burning up in the atmosphere. Tiny flashes of starlight glimmered in the sky above, in reality the titanic firepower of the human ships, and he realised just how utterly _screwed_ he was.

When the human fleet had arrived, it was a slaughter amongst the larger ships. They mostly used some sort of nuclear weapon, which the kinetic barriers could hold out against for a few shots, but some weapons went straight through- lasers were unaffected by the transparent barriers, and their electromagnetic weaponry (obviously made for taking spaceships intact) destroyed ships by shutting down eezo-core containment.

The leader of the frigate- a large and angry krogan- walked to the front of the group. "We've got a mission," he declared- "-Find and retrieve anything of value, slave or tech! If we get out of here with anything, we'll be rich! Go out and loot _everything!"_

Now they could move without potentially being shot, the slavers ran into the streets to grab anything they could. Most formed groups that were predominantly of one race, but they all had a common goal- get out of here alive, and with a profit to make it worthwhile.

Prator had the sense to join some krogan, instead of sticking with the small group of other Batarians that had formed. If they ran into trouble, the krogans distract any human defences while he ran for his life.

* * *

**Identifying threatening forces on planet... 1 large X-ray frigate ship inferior to human frigates, 40 X-ray infantry units of unknown power. Presumed goal of X-rays: Large storage space/ground forces, inferior technology... X-rays are attempting to obtain human technology. Verdict: X-rays are inferior to human technology. Taking initiative: Search and destroy. Take X-rays alive when deemed appropriate. Cloaking.**

**Information received: X-rays using stun weaponry on civilians. Verdict: X-rays require human civilians for unknown purposes.**

**Visual contact. Groups spread out. Weaponry non-standardised. Verdict: X-rays are pirates/mercenaries. High chances of low discipline. Taking initiative: Terror strike. Recommending similar tactics to fellow units.**

**Uncloaking. Expectations met: X-ray weaponry doing little damage. Initiating vocal synthesis systems.**

**"You know not what you have unleashed. We shall take vengeance."**

**Numerous more X-ray forces nearby. Stun weaponry not necessary for taking live X-rays. Largest X-ray in group attempting melee combat. Solution: activating alloy cannon. Results not satisfactory: Unknown technology blocking initial fire. Repeating. Results satisfactory: Complete destruction of thorax achieved.**

**"You have angered a sleeping giant. Know that you shall die this day."**

**Activating flamethrower.**

**Result satisfactory: Intense pain inflicted upon X-rays. All eliminated. Expecting negative effect on morale of total X-ray forces. Moving onto next targets.**

* * *

"The hell is going on over there!?" one of the krogans shouted into the intercom. Over on the other side, all that could be heard was screaming and panic.

"Oh god, it's just killed-" "Bullets aren't hurting it! Run! RU-" "How do we deal with a _fucking flying tank _when-" "It just turned fucking _invisible! How do we fight it when-"_ "Turn back! _We can't stop-"_

The krogan leading his group snarled. "I knew Jerex was a moron for landing," it muttered, before turning to the others. "Okay, listen up!" it declared, and Prator internally thanked it for turning the intercom off. "We've got four slaves, a technological road panel and some laser pistols from some human cops or something. We've got stuff to sell, and I don't think we're gonna get any more before the death machine arrives. So, here's what we're gonna do: We run like hell and get the fuck off this planet, and get paid. Understood!?"

No more encouragement was needed.

As they entered the wrecked area in which the frigates had landed, it became clear that more than just their group had had the same idea. Another group was charging straight for the entrance-

And everyone froze in terror as the Batarian in the lead rebounded off an invisible object just before it got into the ship.

The object revealed itself. A machine, three times as large as the largest krogan, was hovering there like the laws of physics had been wise enough to flee from it. It had numerous pockmarks on its armour, and the paintwork was scorched where a rocket launcher had obviously hit it, but other than that it was completely unharmed. A camera- a soulless mechanical eye- looked at them from its front.

Everyone opened fire.

_"By Shiagur, look at all those __**guns!**__"_ one of the krogan on his team roared with a mad sort of glee. Two separate giant shotguns adorned its sides. On the front, a large nozzle hung below it, with which it unleashed a stream of white-hot fire and remorselessly incinerated the Batarian who had collided with it. Prator could hear the screams, even at this distance. On its top, a massive rocket launcher sat, with a pair of Gatling guns at its side. Finally, the front end had some sort of other cannon-like device.

The rain of firepower stuttered to a halt when the machine didn't even move. And then it _spoke._

**"You came here to enslave,"**it stated, with a certainty that stopped any retort. **"This is not permitted."** It fired the rocket launcher that sat upon its hull, unleashing a blue orb of energy that homed in on a fleeing group of Vorcha with blinding speed and incinerated them a moment later. **"If I kill you now, it is an act of mercy, because I cannot offer a fate worse than death."** The cannon at its front fired, releasing a burst of energy and incapacitating the nearest group of slavers. **"You are not deemed worthy enough to receive mercy."**

Prator remembered everyone unleashing as much ammo they could at the artificial monster, but they fell one by one as it knocked each one out with a storm of electrical energy. After a length of time firing, the Batarian cursed as his gun overheated.

A warm sensation came down his leg as he realised that the guns had been silenced. The metal demon had downed everyone else, and had finally got round to him. And it was _right in front of him._

**"Your deaths are a warning. We are humanity, and we are coming."**

It unleashed a burst of white lightning, and everything went _pain-_

* * *

The Embassy ship had burst into the system at their normal position- roughly around the closest gas giant to Shanxi. Today, though, there had been a whole _fleet_ of human ships in the system instantly pointing their guns at them, as well as an alarming amount of scrap metal near Shanxi itself.

Diplomat Shyria counted herself lucky that the humans had checked their target before firing. The fleet had sheepishly travelled back to Shanxi with their odd, thrustless travel through space, leaving only the normal diplomatic ship behind. The scheduled diplomat conference was to continue as normal.

She was slightly nervous when Robinson came down the inter-ship corridor bristling with anger.

"Shyria, Choredi, Mednos," he said. "Before we begin, I would like to ask how on earth an entire _fleet_ got to our system without you noticing."

Mednos spoke up. "We apologise for this," he said. "We have been preparing some ships to guard the Mass Relay, but they have not yet arrived. We shall do our best to speed up the process, in case this happens again."

"Better than nothing, at least," the human replied. "Now, from our observations, we have judged that the raiders were in the employ of the Batarian Hegemony. Would you agree with this?"

"We do not currently know anything about the fleet, apart from what you've told us," Shyria said. "We cannot make claims on this matter without more information."

"Don't worry," Robinson noted. "We have the resources to gather the information required."

* * *

Rakar Grag slowly came to. _Grurhgh..._ he thought to himself. _Feels like I just downed the galaxy's entire stash of ryncol..._

He slowly became aware of where he was, and made an effort to pick himself up from the floor. The human war-machine had knocked him out cold, dual nervous system be damned. He gave himself a few moments to rest after he started feeling dizzy, before uneasily standing up and looking to the noise at his left.

A few humans glanced up at him with interest, before continuing work with their fancy computers and screens and who-cares-what. He slowly became angry. _These bastards beat us with _one _machine, and they can't even be bothered to kill us?_

That thought brought the krogan fully awake, and he stormed towards the glass. "Oi, you damn brainless pyjaks!" he roared. "Too scared to face me!?"

One of the scientists picked up a communicator of some sort, pressed a few buttons, and talked into it. Other than that, nobody cared. Grag could _feel_ his blood pressure rising.

"You worthless creatures!" he screamed. "Let me out so I can _kill you all!"_

Another human entered the room, but this one was the only one to actually pay attention to him. It walked over to the front of the chamber, and pressed a button.

"So, awake?"

Rakar Grag's voice dropped to a menacing growl. "So, think you can keep me here?" he spat. "Trust me. _You can't."_

"If we thought we couldn't keep you here, you wouldn't be here in the first place," the ugly creature replied. As the krogan looked at it, he could feel the bile rising in his throat. It surface was dull and fleshy, with tiny strands of some disgusting-looking material. Its head was completely covered in it, and it looked sort of like an asari, but with everything attractive removed. It continued. "Now, we'd like you to know something," it said. "Despite appearances, we are _masters_ of the art of interrogation." It paused for effect. "You can either tell us why you're here. Or, you can refuse, and the interrogators shall work their magic. Your choice."

"Your mom's a crestless whore."

The human shrugged. "Tough luck. See you in hell."

It removed its hand from the button, and walked towards the exit of the room. The human scientists began pressing more buttons. "Hey!" Grag roared. "Where d'ya think you're going!?" He made every effort to break the glass with raw force, but a massive metal covering came down over it. He screamed with primal fury.

There was a sudden bright light in the room as a metal covering closed. The krogan turned around, and-

* * *

_Interrogation/autopsy- Krogan_  
_Project Codename: Chelonys_

_The first of the aliens captured, the krogan, was a difficult test subject. These creatures are strong-willed and highly aggressive, according to Citadel reports, and these were no different. Their redundant nervous system caused problems during the probing of the creature's brain, and it entered a berserk state-of-mind. The solution to this was to sever the brain from the nervous system. Continued probing revealed additional information on element zero railguns, which could be used to increase the speed and accuracy of our own weaponry. As a minor note, removal of the head crest is extremely painful for a krogan, so it is recommended that any future MEC troopers go for it during melee combat._

_The krogan's corpse revealed numerous points of interest. Firstly, the incisions made during the interrogation had already begun to heal. Secondly, it had backups of most major organs that were just as capable as the primary ones. We believe that we can use this to vastly improve both the secondary heart and adaptive bone marrow gene modifications, perhaps even allowing bleeding-out soldiers to get up and continue fighting without assistance._

_Interrogation/autopsy- Batarian_  
_Project Codename: Scylla_

_Out of the three species that were captured, the batarians are the most similar to our own. The captured specimens were unwilling to provide the most important information, but interrogation changed that. We have identified the world that they are going to sell the captives on- a planet called Torfan. It is likely that many high-ranking batarians will turn up, as owning a rare species improves social standing. Continued probing did not reveal the identities of the batarians in question._

_Due to similar physiology, little of importance was revealed from their autopsy. The most interesting thing was dissection of the eyes and optical centre of the brain. Their four eyes require high coordination, and using this information, we believe that we can improve the hyper reactive pupils gene modification. Their blood, unlike the other two species, was observed to be red._

_Interrogation/autopsy- Vorcha_  
_Project Codename: Hydra_

_The vorcha's interrogation was fairly disturbing. Lack of cooperation resulted in our normal interrogation techniques, as in the other species. However, the vorcha psychology examination revealed that each one interrogated was abnormally aggressive, to the point of sadism. They also had an ill-developed speech centre of the brain. Not much else was found, other than what was already known after interrogating the other aliens._

_The vorcha's body had numerous clusters of undifferentiated cells. These cells, when grown in a petri dish after being removed from their owner, were amazingly adaptable. As long as they were not destroyed, they could adapt to withstand nearly any experience, including freezing temperatures, fire, blunt trauma, toxic chemicals, dehydration, overhydration, radioactivity, acid, vacuum, and more. It is unlikely that a full vorcha could withstand such treatment, but we believe that a modified, more specific version of this has the capacity to change colonization forever, adapting natives to the environment instead of the other way around. Improving our troops with vorcha DNA should allow their bodies to biologically adapt to the needs of combat, especially in conjunction with krogan self-healing modifications._

* * *

The Rachni Queen, deep in the tunnels of warm metal, sang.

Her friend, Shannon Cheng, had left for a while. She had gone to improve the instrument of her song, taking the gifts from those who had wronged her kind and giving them a new melody. The Queen was thinking of offering a note of her own, to help those who had helped her.

The humans had become more accepting of her, and had widened the space in which she could compose. The planet (a place they sang of as Arvuna) would one day be opened to her, when they trusted her fully. Until then, though, she was content.

They had also permitted her to lay many more eggs to sing to- her first clutch of 50 had hatched, and she had been permitted to have another 100 children to sing their songs in harmony. Already, the small green forms of workers skittered around her, carefully tending to the 7 young warriors. If she knew anything, she knew how to plan tunnels, and her children would hopefully be able to assist in expanding the hive. It would be good for them.

She stood up, wishing to stretch her legs. Already, she was larger than the humans. Her friend had judged her to be 'about five metres long', although the Queen honestly had little idea how much a metre was. Shannon had promised her that she could teach her that, along with human written language (or at least one of them, 'english').

She walked along the tunnel floor with joy in her heart. She wasn't lonely any more, as the silence had been replaced by music.

* * *

After days of travel and who-knows-how-many Mass relays, the pirates had finally reached their destination. Torfan had been awaiting their arrival, and had been sorely disappointed with the total lack of results that they had brought in.

Half a day later, Urdnot Jerex and his fleet of four frigates arrived. He was not one to waste a moment of glory.

The four frigates landed in conjunction, and a group of interested Batarians had gathered when he had cryptically stated that 'he had good news'. They would not be disappointed, Jerex had guaranteed.

The frigate airlock opened, and Jerex strode out. "Batarians!" he declared. "The other slavers were unable to stand up against the humans! I, though, convinced my fleet to stand strong, and we were rewarded! BEHOLD!"

The other frigate doors opened, and the Batarians gasped at what they saw. Real live humans! "Now, the ones who are unconscious have abilities that are effectively biotics," he explained. "The ones who are awake do not. As well as this, we have brought examples of human technology!"

He extended his right arm, and a vorcha put a small gun into his hand. A krogan had moved a hunk of metal over to the right of the gathering crowd, and with precise aim, Jerex fired a red beam of concentrated light at it, melting a hole in it. "Handheld laser weapons!" the Krogan shouted. The crowd looked on with the type of awe only seen in the eyes of the rich. "These amazing technological artefacts, live humans and more will be on sale today! We'll clear off as soon as we've got our payment!"

After roughly an hour, Jerex was leaving the system as a far richer krogan than before, with a cruel smile on his face.

_Heheh. Suckers haven't realised,_ he thought,_that the humans will want their friends back soon, and they'll be armed and angry._


	5. Chapter 5

XCOM was ready.

A ship was to be sent- a small frigate, the _XSCS SpaceRanger_, with a single spec-ops team. They would go to Torfan, fast and quiet, and then they would fight until the captives were theirs.

The spec-ops team (six of their very finest soldiers, and six of their finest SHIVs) had finished the preparations- just in time, too, as it was estimated that they would arrive a few hours after the pirates. The pre-modded soldiers had been improved with the new DNA, and all of them had been outfitted with a series of kinetic barrier generators acquired via Council reparations.

With the cutting edge of technology in hand, and the finest men and women available to Earth, they would strike back, and take their people home. The Citadel had strongly discouraged them from doing so ('just a few hundred people', they had said). What they failed to realise was that for humanity, they had to send a message.

XCOM would not stand for crimes gone unpunished. They had safeguarded humanity for decades, and they weren't going to stop now.

* * *

"Any other offers? Going once, going twice, the asari is sold to the man with the red-sleeved shirt, number 63, for 50000 credits." The slave was brought down the steps, and a pleased Batarian walked away with another bargain.

He lead the asari out of the selling building and towards the van he'd taken. He opened the door, and tied its rope to a spare slave-handle alongside the rest of the slaves he had bought today. Thanks to the human sales, no one was particularly interested in plain stuff like turians or asari. No, they wanted authentic human slaves, or an authentic human laser pistol, or an authentic human road panel (of all things) and were saving their credits specifically for them. A fine asari slave like this would normally cost twice as much, but relatively few of the others in the building were interested.

Out of the corner of one of his eyes, he saw movement, and looked up as he closed the boot. He couldn't quite tell what he had been looking at. He continued staring, and as he did so, an odd noise entered his ears.

_whuwuwhuwuwhuwuwhuwu_

He could tell that something odd was going on, and stepped closer to his van. Whatever it was, he didn't like it one bit. Now he looked, though, there was an odd patch of warped air, and it seemed to be growing as the noise grew louder.

He felt a _thump_ through the ground, and an alien vessel materialised. The Batarian nearly had a heart attack.

* * *

The auction room was filled with the bustle of many people, most of them Batarians, admiring the human slaves that were on-stage. The way they walked, their babbling language, the strands of hair that adorned their head and skin. The technology was brilliant, too- laser weaponry, shooting deep red beams that could burn through ballistic gel like a saw through cloth.

Most of them didn't hear the panicked Batarian man who had entered the room. But the ones near him went silent, and the ones near them, until the room had quietened at the sound of his cry of

"The humans! They're _here!"_

Many of them thought he was being obvious. Of _course_ the humans were here. That's why everyone was in the room, right?

The door behind him opened on its own, and there was an odd noise. The panicked Batarian whispered a prayer.

_"Do not resist arrest, or you will be shot."_ In the centre of the room, half-way to the ceiling, six machines materialised.

_"Survivors will be shot again."_

There was a roar of gunfire from the guards. Plasma zoomed past superfast metallic grains in a deadly rain of ballistics. The kinetic barriers of both sides shattered quickly. The armoured surface of one of the SHIVs cracked, and it lopsidedly fell to the floor. Superheated gas met flesh, flash-roasting it.

Human soldiers materialised at the edge of the room. Then some of the guards started shooting at _each other._

* * *

Near the edge of the solar system, more ships appeared. They were coated in dark green metal, each one much larger than the _SpaceRanger, _and moved in that odd thrustless way that human ships moved.

This was a rescue mission, and one ship and twelve combatants couldn't take on Torfan by themselves.

* * *

There was a loud _Bang!._The last of the guards fell to the floor, hand still wrapped around the pistol that had blown his brains out, and a ripple of purple energy retreated from the corpse.

Utter silence. The auction room had barely known what had hit it.

The four uninjured SHIVs quickly dropped to the floor to dispense biospray and on-site repairs to the wounded and non-operational. Two human soldiers went over to the slave pens to make sure they were unharmed, while a third walked up to the top of the auction platform. She tapped her xenaesium-encased feet on the steel floor, gaining the attention of everyone in the room in an instant.

After scanning the room with her eyes, she began to speak. "Some may not have realised what's going on," she announced. "I am XCOM Special Operative codename Kunapipi, and I am here to explain what happened.

"Humanity has three things that it absolutely _detests:_ the first is slavery, and the second is alien attacks. The third, and most hated, is alien attacks for the purposes of slavery." She waited a few seconds, for that to sink in. "You have just taken _the worst possible action._ I am only a soldier, but I can quite clearly see that this is bad for you people. Any questions?"

As the realisation spread over her audience, she glanced at her wrist-mounted Slip-Screen Display, and accessed the _SpaceRanger_'s scanning systems.

_That's a lot of hostiles,_she thought. _Let's hope reinforcements get here soon._

* * *

_Returning to consensus. Data-retrieval complete._

_Uploading programs...__Program upload complete. Downloading retrieved data to consensus- HumanResearch compressed file._

_Decompressing files: HumanMale image file. HumanFemale image file. HumanClothing image file. HumanLifeCycle image file. HumanTechnology image file. HumanBiology image file. HumanLanguages sound file. HumanTechnology document file. HumanBiology document file._

_Collecting incoming data. Queries collected. Decisions collected. Inferred data collected.__Initiating consensus._

_Processing... Processing... Processing complete. Consensus: More research on human biology is required. Required data will not be available on extranet. It does not appear that humans have developed the required technology. Human test subjects may be required. Downloading Geth programs onto the extranet. Priority: Human research._

* * *

Like flies to meat, pirates had begun to collect around the Mass Relay. Torfan's military ships were in the way of XCOM's cruisers, and all of them had started firing. The Batarians were taking a beating from the fusion lances on the larger ships, but the smaller ones' plasma weapons couldn't break the Batarians' shielding. If they approached to switch to laser and EMP weaponry, they would lose many under the hail of kinetic slugs, and so they hung back to use their agility to their advantage.

The pirates knew what had happened.

And what _would_ happen.

The XCOM ships, by being unwilling to risk ships on closing in, had spent _far_ too long in the system. The humans seemed to have cottoned on to this by now, and they were gaining range- and it had just cost them a ship, its hull tearing under a barrage of slugs. But then the telltale white light of the EM weapons started up, and a Batarian ship was hit by tendrils of electrons, before exploding as the containment failed on the mass effect core.

They had taken action too late.

The relay activated, and the pirates began to close in on the battle. Behind them, the cavalry arrived- a Batarian defence force had entered the system, and the human ships were outnumbered and outflanked. The cruisers broke formation, to get out from between the fleets. And the pirates were waiting for them.

* * *

The ship burst out of the other end of the Relay. Bulky, bulkier than a normal human transport ship, but still with the fluidity of movement that all human ships carried. Its sides were coated in dark green metal, thicker than a normal civilian ship's, and a strip of orange ran along its side. The blue XCOM logo on its flank wasn't quite the right shade, but it would have to be close enough.

Clouds of gas and dust marred its vision, but their spies had told them the safe routes through the clouds of the Widow Nebula, and they followed them exactly. And then it was there: The Citadel, in all its gargantuan glory. Five arms came from its core, like the rays of the sun, each glowing with the light of the cities along its surface.

The pilot (not even _he_ considered his name to be important, in the grand scheme of things) hailed the station and spoke into the communicator. "Citadel Control, this is _XDS Apotheosis_, requesting permission to land." The ship wasn't really the _Apotheosis_, but the Citadel didn't know that.

_"Stand by for clearance, Apotheosis... Clearance granted, you may begin your approach. Transferring you to the appointed operator."_

"Roger, Citadel Control. Coming in to land now."

He gave the signal to the men in the back. They were dedicated to the cause, and even the worst death possible would be for the greater good. He looked up at the screen. The containments were opening; this was good. The pilot pressed a button, and started an alarm near the door. With luck, the cargo would be attracted to it, and everything would go as planned. He sped up.

_"Apotheosis, you are coming in too fast. Please slow down."_

"There's a problem with the engines, we can't seem to-" He cut to static, and a small smile formed on his face.

He checked the coordinates, and prepared to crash the ship. As long as the cargo was delivered, his life would be fulfilled.

There was an almighty sound of tearing metal, and he was thrown forwards. And then the cockpit was silent, and the broken ship lay still.

* * *

The _XBC Payload_ was one of the luckier cruisers. It had managed to get away from the main guns of the Batarian arrivals, and a lot of the pirates had gone for more vulnerable targets. It wasn't without its scars- there was a dent along its left side where Torfan's defence force had scored a hit- but it was better off than most.

_That might change if I can't get these fuckers off my tail, _Tobias thought. _Fortunately, we're in space._

The ship spun around, its momentum carrying it forwards. The four pirate ships behind it saw their chance, and fired. An EMP pulse erupted from the _Payload_'s close-range cannon in retribution as the slugs exploded on hard metal, and the broken containment fields detonated the two closest ships. It fired its particle beam, and at this range, it cut through a third pirate's ship like butter. The fourth wisely decided to flee, and go for a better target.

He opened up the comm. link to the ground team. "Tobias Dahl here, we've suffered heavy casualties, but our ship's got past the enemy. Status?"

_"Operative Shepard here. Four SHIVs and Operatives Cheng and Martin have been injured, but we've temporarily repelled the x-rays. We've got hold of slaves and slave-buyers. We should take the buyers as well as the slaves so we don't get shot at while we leave, and drop them all off at the Citadel."_

"Acknowledged." He put on a burst of speed, and slowed as he entered the atmosphere. "Need a plasma strike?"

_"It would be appreciated. Sending you the location now."_

"Got it." The _Payload_ pulled up, and the secondary plasma guns rotated towards their target. Then they fired, and searing blue plasma tore through the atmosphere. It struck the earth, and an explosion of heat vapourised a group of assorted mercenaries and military that had gathered to fight off the humans. The sheer suddenness of it threw the fighters into disarray, giving the ship time to land.

The cruiser's cargo bay opened, and XCOM troops rushed out to defend the civilians as they made a break for safety. "This is your pilot speaking," Tobias said, "we're leaving ASAP. With a bit of luck, we'll get to the Citadel without incident and we'll sort everyone out for going home. Except the slave-buyers, whatever the Citadel uses instead of police can deal with them."

Luck would not be on Dahl's side.

* * *

A spinning omni-tool blade, after hours of work, had managed to cut through the airlock of the human ship. A Turian C-Sec officer, Tonellix Medim, shoved a hydraulic wedge through the gap and turned it on.

The sound of an alarm had rung for a while, and there had been sounds of movement, but both noises had stopped after a while. Tonellix was worried. He didn't know human biology or tech, but he presumed that if there was no movement and no noise, it was bad.

A small crowd had formed near the back of the docking bay. Mostly reporters, but there was one figure who stood out- a _huge_ krogan, its head crest a vibrant, blood-like red, with three scars that ran across its length. It wasn't causing any harm, though- in fact, it was actively being helpful, sending death glares to any reporters that tried to get past the other C-Sec officers.

With a groan, the airlock was forced open. Tonellix took out his torch, and stepped into the ship. He turned it on.

And froze.

It was like a scene from a nightmare. Red liquid- obviously the colour of human blood- was splattered along the walls. There were white fragments and pieces of fabric (_what the hell happened here?_). He almost vomited when he saw a pale, ownerless eye staring at him from the corner of the room.

He stepped out of the ship, mandibles twitching. "We need backup," he told his team. And then he had an idea. "Oi, krogan!" he called.

The behemoth looked up, one eyebrow raised. "What?" it grunted.

"There's been some sort of fight in here," he replied, retroactively deciding that this was a bad idea. "If we want to find survivors, we can't afford to wait for more officers. You're the best bet we have."

It looked at him for a few moments, and then shrugged. "Meh. I better get paid at the end of this."

* * *

Urdnot Wrex walked towards the ship, and peered inside. "You weren't kidding when you said there was a fight," he noted. The Turian was obviously terrified- he could smell it. "Wimp."

He stepped inside, listening for signs of movement as he padded through the mess. Nothing, as far as he-

_Wait._ He looked to the left. There'd been a noise. Skittering. He'd heard something like it before, on Tuchanka- it was like a klixen on a metal floor.

He gestured to the C-Sec officers behind him, and carefully, approached the sound. He stopped them when he lifted the torch- the shadows would just made it harder to see.

He caught a glimpse of the source of the footsteps. Just a few bioluminescent patches, and just for a moment, but now he knew what to look out for.

He stepped closer.

The animal charged. The officers raised their weapons to fire, throwing gun-mounted light onto it- and it was like nothing Wrex had ever seen. It was gangly, and its shell was deep purple, with glowing yellow eyes and glowing white protrusions.

Wrex crackled with biotic energy, and the creature was thrown backwards. It didn't miss a beat- in moments, it was up and charging again.

Even with the C-Sec officers backing him up, he _still _had to beat it to death with his fists. It was far harder to kill than anything its size should logically be, but its skull ruptured satisfyingly. Whatever it was, it _hurt-_ its claws had torn through his armour like it was varren hide, and he smacked a bit of medigel on top of the open orange wound that had formed.

Behind him, he heard the death-scream of a Turian, and cursed- he hadn't been paying attention, and neither had anyone else. To his dismay, by the time he had turned around, a whole pack of the damned skinny-klixen had descended upon the officers.

* * *

Tonellix fired his pistol into the group of creatures, desperately trying to save them- but the krogan grabbed his arm and tugged him away. "They're already dead!" it shouted. "Now move!"

Taking heed of the krogan's advice, Tonellix sprinted out of the ship. "Everyone!" he called. "Get out of here! Into the elevator, _move!"_

The other officers stood there dumbfounded for a moment while the C-Sec officer sprinted towards the civilian crowd. The krogan was already there, roughly shoving a bunch of reporters in there and catching the lift itself. "Catch the next elevator along!" Tonellix shouted.

He heard the firing of guns and the shrieks of the creatures as they rushed out of the ship. He heard someone shout, over the screams of the rest of the crowd.

_"RACHNI!"_

He turned around for a second, the civilians close behind. He put down covering fire, drawing the Rachni pack's attention away from them. While they entered the closest elevator, he bolted for the third and last one, with the bugs close behind. He hit the button on the elevator as soon as he could, and he turned around to see a Rachni just about to get him-

and the door closed. Tonellix sighed in relief. For a moment, he thought he saw his team walking out of the ship, and then the elevator carried him up and away from the horde.

* * *

The Chryssalids milled around in the dock. These weren't the same Chryssalids that had been fought in the Chryssalid War- EXALT had made sure of it. They hadn't accurately measured the intelligence of them. EXALT's scientists had thought it to be around the level of a dog.

They were smarter than that. Plenty smarter.

One of them dipped a talon in Turian blood, and tasted it as it walked towards the elevators. It had seen what the last Turian had done before it escaped. It had put its hand on the glowing section of the elevator, and it had been taken into the sky.

Another Chryssalid approached it, looking around at the elevator. The first pressed the button.

And a third had seen what they had done, and clicked at its fellow predators as it ran eagerly towards a different elevator. The others followed.


	6. Chapter 6

In the heart of the Serpent Nebula, the Mass Relay glowed brightly for a moment. The _Payload_ emerged from the corridor of near zero-mass space that the structures had created, and slowed for a moment to reorientate itself. And then it sped up, traversing one of the safe routes through the cloud of gas and dust.

There was the ghost of a massive, five-armed shape for a moment, before the Citadel appeared in its full glory. The light of its sun, Widow, hung behind it as a backdrop to the magnificent design.

"Look at that thing," Tobias said to himself as one of the screens showed the monumental object. "Don't know who these 'Protheans' were, but they sure knew how to build a space station."

He opened the infracom. "This is your captain speaking," he said, speaking down the microphone. "We've passed through the Relay. The Citadel is in sight." Some of the others had said about some of the aliens getting restless, so it would probably help with that. He opened a channel to the Citadel. "This is the _XBC Payload_, requesting permission to dock. We've got rescued slaves, and have some captured Batarians who were attempting to buy them."

The reply took a little while to arrive. _"Request pending," _the alien responded. _"The _XDS Apotheosis _made a crash-landing a few hours ago. Human activity on the Citadel is restricted until the matter can be resolved." _The line closed.

Dahl sat there. _Why the hell's the Apotheosis at the Citadel? _he thought, before opening the infracom. "This is your captain speaking," he said, presumably to the chagrin of the permanent crew. He'd made a point of saying it on every available occasion after someone had pointed out how much he said it. "There's some minor problems with docking right now. We'll stay near the Citadel until we've got permission to land."

* * *

Tonellix rushed out of the elevator. Before he could get very far, he was grabbed by another C-Sec officer, and was brought face-to-face with another Turian.

"Officer!" he barked. "What the hell's going on down there!? We've got an angry krogan and a bunch of scared reporters on our hands, and all we've got is people shouting about Rachni!"

"They're not Rachni!" the krogan shouted. It had probably overheard. It snarled at the officers that were keeping it over there, shouted at them a bit more, and then stormed over. "I fought in the Rachni wars, and I'm damn sure that these things aren't Rachni!"

The other Turian stared at the krogan, outraged, before Tonellix interrupted him. "There's a large number of dangerous creatures down there," he explained, "and we need to-"

There was the _ding! _of an elevator, and a moment passed before two purple blurs shot out. They stood in the open corridor for a few moments, eyes darting from target to target as a few officers started firing wildly at them, before rushing down two different corridors to hunt. The Turian officer stood gawking for a few moments, before turning to Tonellix again. "Whatever they are, they could be a threat to the Council!" he stated. "Go and warn them!"

Tonellix tapped the krogan on the shoulder, and rushed to the nearby elevator to the Presidium. The krogan was quick to take the hint, and followed closely.

As he reached the elevator, there was a second _ding!_. The krogan pushed the elevator button, and Tonellix saw the swarm arrive- purple monsters, bathed in yellow bioluminescence and the bright blue glow of bullets- before the doors closed and he was left to his imagination.

* * *

The Rachni queen sang to her clutch of eggs. Her people's song had become stronger as they learned the notes, and teams of workers were busily going about their business throughout the hive. She gently stroked the chitin of one of the warriors, who was resting while the others tussled with each other.

She looked up as the airlock opened. The human didn't seem to have psionics, as he sang with words instead of thoughts.

"Rachni queen?" he asked, and she clicked in reply. "We think we have a working prototype translator device. Could you test it?"

She nodded, and he passed it to her. She felt the odd gadget in her claws, checking how it worked. It was circular, and had a large, rounded hump on top that seemed to serve little purpose. She placed it on top of her head, and sang her intentions to it. It created a mechanical voice- "is object song alive"

"Didn't really understand that, but it seems the basic principle works," the human said happily. "Keep that in hand, and we'll fix the translations as time goes on."

"good yes move up" she replied. She agreed- it made little sense. "guard song song" she started, and stopped, before trying out a few more intentions to see if she could make herself more understood. "guard move leave fly out being talk"

The human shrugged. "I'll get someone psionic to talk to you properly-"

There was the sound of something exploding, and the lights flickered. The queen's eyes darted upwards, before returning to the human. "The hell?" the man muttered, before looking back down at the Rachni queen. "I'll ask what's going on. One more thing- we've had some of the cruisers return to one of the other bases, and they said that Shannon's team got out." The Rachni queen nodded in thanks for the information.

The human walked back out of the hive, and turned on the inbuilt communicator on the console. He talked into it for a few seconds, frowned, and pressed a button under the desk.

He lifted up two pistols, and walked back into the hive. He passed one to the Rachni queen. "It isn't safe in the hive," he said sternly. "We're under attack by EXALT, and they'll be able to activate the killswitch on the hive. We've been given permission to let you out."

The airlock opened, and the Rachni queen nodded. "fight enemy save song"

* * *

_"-KTKTKTKTon't die! ThSCREEEEEEAAAEoming, and we caAAAAUUUUUUGH!uation under control! Officer Tonellix is coming to-"_

There was the sound of flesh being rent apart, and a Turian's death scream, and a horrific retching sound, but no more words were spoken. Councillor Akia slammed his hands onto the table in frustration, before composing himself and turning to his fellow Councillors. "Okay, what information do we have?" he asked, turning to Anoadril.

"Biological weapon," he replied. "Don't match up with Rachni. Many similarities, though. Revival of corpses, insectoid nature... Could mean genetic modification. Either way, incredibly dangerous."

Akia crouched down, behind the desk. "What are you doing?" Tevos said, slightly concerned with this odd behaviour.

Akia came back up, his hands full. "Weapons," he replied. "I'm a Turian, it's the logical response," he reassured his shocked Councillors before Tevos started ranting about the potential dangers of the guns. "We need to stay calm in this situation, and that means we have time to plan out what we'll do when we move out. Tevos, you said about your biotic amp upgrade? You can keep the things away from us. Anoadril, you're a Salarian- stay on high alert and warn us if you see anything. You can have a pistol, too." He passed it to the Councillor. "I've got military experience, so I'll be keeping the submachine gun."

A C-Sec officer exited the elevator at the end of the room. A large krogan followed behind. "Councillors!" he shouted, panting with his mandibles wide. "I've been given orders to evacuate you all before the situation gets any worse! The krogan's backup!"

Akia looked at the two, before turning back to his councillors. "Let's move," he said, and looked back to the cop. "Good work! Officer Maradix said you'd be coming. Tonellix, was it?" The cop nodded, and he looked back to the others. They nodded, and ran towards their impromptu bodyguards.

The elevator activated again, and a purple insectoid launched itself out of it. It was caught before it could get anywhere- and the krogan's hand pinned it against a wall, and crushed its skull with a headbutt. "We're gonna get overrun soon!" he shouted. "Move!"

The Councillors dashed into the elevator, and Officer Tonellix and Urdnot Wrex entered behind them.

* * *

The infracom beeped loudly. Tobias frowned, and opened it- had one of the civilians done something stupid? He didn't really want to know why it was an urgent message.

It read:

_One of the civvies tapped into the Citadel news network. You might want to take a look at this._  
_-Shepard_

Underneath lay a link. Tobias opened it, and a video opened of a reporter on the Citadel. The alien- a Tauren or something- was speaking in birdlike gibberish for a moment, mandibles twitching wildly as it spoke. It took a moment before the translators kicked in and the facial movements were visually reconstructed into human body language.

"-ec officers have nearly been able to open the crashed Human ship," it said in a masculine voice. "Hopefully, we'll have our first glimpse of real, live humans today! This will be a momentous occasion in the history of the Citadel."

In the background, some more aliens finally managed to pry open the doors of the crashed ship. It rambled some more when a larger alien- the reporter named it as a 'Krogan'- was invited to help.

This talking continued, when from out of nowhere, someone screamed. The reporter turned sharply, startled, and another Tauren and the Krogan came barrelling out of the ship.

Tobias Dahl felt sick with dread when, behind them, there came a group of the one thing which every human hoped never to see.

He frantically tried to raise the Citadel on the comm. line. "This is Tobias Dahl of the _XBC Payload_, we've identified the bioweapon! They're Chryssalids! They-"

* * *

_"-reproduce by laying eggs within the corpses of their prey. They move at incredible speed, and have a sense of electroreception-"_

"...This one would like to express its displeasure at this revelation."

Blahsto, Hanar C-Sec officer had just corralled himself and numerous civilians into a small room when he received this information. It was already becoming evident that what the human said was true- two blade-like purple appendages were already jammed into the door, trying to tear it open. The civilians were screaming.

"It would, however, ask you all to remain calm. This one has the situation under control."

Before the 'Chryssalid' could pull its legs out of the door, Blahsto opened it, pinning its limbs in the moving parts. Its exoskeleton was amazingly strong, and didn't break- but Blahsto poured bullets into its skull with his pistol, killing it outright.

The civilians gawked, awestruck. One of the Salarians spoke up, and told the Hanar, "If I make it out of here alive, you are _so_going to get a vid."

"This one asks that you continue to remain alert while it finds access to an evacuation route." He activated the omnitool on one of his tentacles. "This one self-identifies as Officer Blahsto," he said into the C-Sec channels. "It would like to ask if there are any other officers near its location. This one is evacuating civilians."

_"This is Officer Tonellix responding,"_ came a Turian voice. _"We're evacuating the Council now. I'll send you my current route. There should be some spare evacuation shuttles nearby- if you can get over here, feel free to use one."_

"This one appreciates the help. It is signing out." He turned off the channel, and looked at the map provided on the omnitool. It quickly created a route to use.

_I am armed with a single pistol against a horde of Chryssalids,_ he thought. _This may be problematic. I believe it is doable._

"This one declares that we are leaving now." He checked over his pistol for a moment. "May the Enkindlers bless this one in its task."

He moved back towards the building's entrance, and prepared to fire at any insectoid that moved as he opened the door.

* * *

Urdnot Wrex fired a spray of machine gun fire over one of the Chryssalids, keeping it pinned down as the others moved forwards. "Keep moving!" he called. A small group had amassed- himself, the Councillors, the Turian Officer, two Asari officers, two Turians, an Asari and a Salarian. There weren't enough guns to go around, but the Asari officers (as much as he hated to admit it) had been a huge help with their biotics.

The blue flares of said biotics' abilities burst into light, and Wrex moved forwards while he was being covered. A Chryssalid didn't fear being thrown around, but they'd soon learned to avoid Warp and Singularity. One charged anyway, but the Turian Officer (Tonellix, was it?) caught it right between the eyes with a well-aimed pistol shot. Wrex nodded in appreciation as he moved back to the front to cover them.

The Krogan checked his omnitool while he had the chance. The jellyfish was making progress much faster than them- probably because it couldn't afford to slow down. Despite this, from Tonellix's chatter, it seemed it'd kept its own entourage alive and well. A Batarian with a pistol had apparently joined up with the other group.

The Salarian Councillor had started up his own omnitool by the time Wrex was back to Chryssalid-repelling duty. He couldn't hear much over the sounds of his gun.

"-to hel-" KRKRTKRKTKRKTKRTKR "-or ambassador! I-" KRTKRKTRKTKRTKRKTKRT "-uld lose two hundre-" KRTKRTKRTK "-diploma-" KRTKRTKRTKRKT "-s dead anyway i-" KRTKRKTKRKTRKT "-ens, so you-" KRTKRKTKRTKRKTRKT "- as well try i-" KRKRKTKRTKRT

He turned his attention back to shooting stuff. _It's more important than whatever they're talking about anyway._

* * *

The Queen fired her gun, and searing blue plasma collided with an EXALT soldier's armour. EXALT's forces had quickly overwhelmed the upper levels, but the lower levels were better-guarded, and the EXALT soldiers aboveground had been blocked off by a giant prototype SHIV or two. The guards' guns had quickly been looted, and the Rachni's mettle had been tested.

The Rachni workers were working in synchrony- every time an Exalt soldier popped up, every Rachni present would fire superheated death or armour-melting acid and take it down. The good doctor was helping repel a cyberwarfare attack, to get the guns online.

Apparently, it had been successful. At that moment, a mounted turret opened up from the ceiling, and fired a hail of particle beams upon the invaders. The defenders took cover, letting the turret work its wonders, and slowly raised their heads as it ceased fire. According to the scouting Rachni workers, the soldiers had retreated further out of the base, and so they moved forwards.

It was going to be a long, hard slog if they wanted to get out of here alive.

* * *

"Okay, people!" Shepard shouted to the assembled soldiers. "Listen up!

"EXALT has attacked the Citadel races in an attempt to sabotage future peace! We don't know why, but we know how. They've sent Chryssalid hordes on unprotected civilians, to slaughter anyone who fails to escape from the station!

"The security forces were the first to fall. The Councillors have nearly escaped, but the Elcor ambassador is trapped in his office. If he dies, 100 years of diplomatic relations could go down the drains! We're on the verge of war here- we _have_ to do this, and the fate of humanity could hang on the balance.

"This is what we're going to do. We are going to go in there, and shoot any Chryssalid we see! We are going to make a difference! We will show them that _humanity will not back down!_ If there's anyone that can do this," she roared, "_it's us!_ Now _who's with me!?"_

There was a round of applause as she finished her speech. "Let's go down there and give those Chryssalids something to remind them of the last time they threatened our future!" she ended.

"One small step for me..." Shepard muttered.

She placed one foot, then the other, onto the Citadel floor. "One small step for XCOM."

Slowly, the rest team exited the _SpaceRanger_ behind her. Hopefully, it would work- a good 24 foot-soldiers, 2 DOOMSHIVs, 8 SHIVs and the remnants of the initial raiding squad had gathered together for this mission.

She checked her slip-screen. They'd entered at the same point the Chryssalids had. She could see the twisted wreck of the EXALT frigate nearby. By now, most people on the initial route of the Chryssalids would be dead, and that meant their slaughterers would be moving to richer hunting grounds.

The silence was eerie. In the recordings of the Ethereal War, there'd always be noise- the ghastly wails of Floaters, the roars of Mutons, the horrible stamping footsteps of Sectopods. And, of course, the click and screech that could only come from a Chryssalid.

The team moved forwards. There was no movement. The SHIVs entered the air, and confirmed that there was no Chryssalid presence in the area.

And then Shepard had a thought.

_If the only way out of the dock is through the elevator, then how did they get up in the first place?_

* * *

The battle raged on the surface of the XCOM R/D base. Green EXALT plasma and yellow particle beams flew past their blue and violet counterparts. Psionic energy flared across the battlefield, shredding the plant life beneath their feet and churning it to mud.

At the centre of it all, a single war machine was holding off the tide of EXALT forces. It was a prototype- but a damn good prototype.

It was a tank. It was a tank larger than a Sectopod- 11 metres long and with enough shielding to shrug off a Blaster Launcher with little effort. With a combination of a miniature fusion lance, four particle beams and two blaster launchers, it could break through any defensive barrier EXALT set up. XCOM had christened its kind the Super Heavy Offensive Tank, or the SHOT for short.

Its creators knew it as a Bolo.

With a single shot of the SHOT's fusion lance, it tore through one of EXALT's Sectopod-based war mechs. The rain of bullets barely made a dent in the tank's armoured hide.

Of more concern, though, was the fact that XCOM had yet to fully sort out stress issues. Soon, the recoil would overwhelm the enormous machine, and they'd lose a major playing card in their bid to defend the base. If the Rachni Queen didn't escape soon, the facility would be overwhelmed, and her species' fate would be in EXALT's hands.

XCOM could not allow that to happen.

* * *

Shepard put down one of the Chryssalids as soon as she entered the Presidium. As predicted, they only had to shoot a few more before the local area was clear. In the distance, she could hear the sounds of gunfire- presumably the team escorting the Councillors. That group was nearly at the escape pods, so all they had to do was grab the Elcor ambassador and get out of there.

With a purposeful step on a dead 'lid's head, she led the team forwards. It was eerie- many colours of blood and gore covered the path over the lake. Noticeably, one type of alien- Turian, if that was correct- seemed to be largely indigestible to the larvae. She could tell that because, despite the fact they'd been killed just as much as every other species, there were large piles of flesh and organs left behind.

On the rooftops and along the walls of buildings, she could make out tiny purple shapes. They were probably looking for a meal to finish off their development. Shepard shuddered.

Despite how much everyone wanted to shoot the buggers, they had to conserve ammo. A target like an Elcor would be a huge prize for a Chryssalid of any shape or size, so there would likely be a larger presence there. Most of the undeveloped 'lids seemed to be hunting Keepers, enigmatic insectoids that ran the Citadel.

None of the tiny Chryssalids made a move against them, instead sitting back and watching. A few larger ones were also hanging around, but they were staying away as well. Nothing like it had been known during the War. EXALT had done something to them, and that terrified her.

She stepped up the steps towards the Elcor ambassador's room, and sent one of the SHIVs in front. They had specialised scanners to let them sense the telltale electromagnetic waves given off by the Chryssalids' bioelectrical organs.

It stopped for a few seconds.

_"...Error. Recalibrating."_

A few more seconds.

_"...Recalibrations finished. Processing. No change in results. Rec-"_

That was the moment when the SHIV was impaled.

Everything opened fire. The air was superheated in moments, and there was high, ghastly wailing from behind the wall of plasma. The barrage continued, and then there was silence, and it slowly filtered out as the guns themselves overheated.

The hallway was burning. And then, an enormous purple claw tore the door apart as a man might tear paper. And it charged forwards as it reloaded, and the silence was broken as the Citadel erupted with glowing, psychopathic monsters.


End file.
